How Teachers Spend Their Time When They Are Not Teaching

 Work is generally associated with the work place. We usually think that as soon as a worker leaves company premises, working also ends. This is what most parents and pupils or students see with teachers. Classes end as early as 3:00pm and that is the time most people know that the work of the teacher ends. That is the time when we see they end their teaching work. But what do they do afterwards when they are not teaching? How do they spend their time when they are not teaching?

The Amount of Time Not Teaching

The work of a teacher is usually equated to teaching. Many people think that the life of a teacher is like that of a pupil. That means that teachers also have the time “working” time and free time as that of pupils. In other words, many people think that when pupils are off from school or on long vacations, teachers are also. Workers and employees in other sectors usually envy teachers because of these long holidays and “guaranteed free” weekends because we think “no classes, no work.”

Not Teaching But Still Working

On the average, employees and workers in the UK work 37 hours every week. That is close to a conclusive estimate of the work they do because almost all of them do tasks in and for their jobs only during office hours or working time. But this does not apply to teachers. The nature of their work requires them to do some more work after classes. That is what we do not usually see. And if we add the time being consumed in doing these, it will total 48 hours because they need to prepare lessons before teaching in classes. During the school term, teachers work for as long as 56 hours in a week.

Working When Others Are Not

Further, our idea is that teachers do not have work when there are no classes. That means we think that they are also on vacation when students have no classes, on vacation and school is closed. This, added to the holidays that all working people have, totals to 65 days for the whole year. Other employees or workers only have around 28. However, teachers still do work during student vacations and holidays.

Credit and Compensation

As mentioned, most of us do not know that teachers still do tasks for their job after teaching in the classroom. And they agree. They believe, think or know that many people do not know or even just notice that they put in more hours and effort than can be seen in the classroom and the school. Eight in every 10 teachers who were respondents of a survey paid for by TES Connect say that they think the tasks they need to do outside the classroom and beyond class time are not noticed by employers, parents and pupils. Moreover, performing these incidental tasks during night time and weekends affects the health and personal lives of teachers as human beings. Again, they need to rest and enjoy too just like other human beings. When these are not met, the body and mind will suffer.

Comparison

To give us a better and larger view of how teachers fare among other professionals with regards to logging in official and unofficial time for their work, here is a list of the Top 10 Hard-Working Professions derived by TES Connect in its studies.

1. Production Managers and Directors of Mining and Energy Firms – 49.6 (hours per week)

2. Teache
   rs – 48.3

3. Advertising and PR Directors – 42.2

4. Financial Institution Managers and Directors – 40.9

5. IT Engineers – 39.0

6. Chief Executive Officers and Solicitors – 38.5

7. Medical Practitioners – 38.4

8. HR Managers and Directors – 38

9. Barristers and Judges – 36

10. Accountants – 35.6

Time and Effort

The extension of the working time of the teachers cannot be disregarded. As human beings, they are also entitled to rest or relaxation and recreation. If the employees and workers in other sectors do not need to work after daily working time and in the weekends, teachers should also be afforded the same right. They are not only deprived of time to rest and relax. In the process, they are also being subjected to more health hazards.

The Time Spent When Not Teaching

So how do teachers spend their time when they are not teaching? They prepare to teach. They prepare lesson materials and process the output that they and their students produce. It is not only getting ready for the next school day or week. It is also about assessing the performance of their students and their own. They need to check papers, record scores and compute grades. These are what teachers do during the time when they are not teaching.

Solutions

Yes, the government should highly considering raising the salaries of teachers. Better yet, adjusting the total working time of the teachers must be done. Teachers should be given time to do the “non-teaching” aspect of their job during school working time. For example, they should be given a teaching load of half of a day so that they will still have time during working days to prepare for lessons, check papers and other tasks and do not need to do it during the night and weekends when they should be resting, relaxing, enjoying or do their other roles like being parents to their own children.

Why Many American Universities are Seeking to Recruit More British Students

Universities in the United States of America are creeping up against those in the United Kingdom in world league tables. They have greatly improved in terms of performance. And just in timing with this, many US universities are joining the annual US College Day in Britain to recruit more students from their rival education location. What are the factors that contribute to this move?

Lucrative Market

As mentioned, US universities are gaining on their UK counterparts in the race for higher education supremacy. Britain has been No. 1 for the longest time and still is but America is becoming a very close top challenger. And because the UK is the sector leader, it has the biggest share of the market and the best part at that. It is simply logical in marketing to pursue and aim to conquer the territory of the leader. This is especially so if you are the No. 1 contender. It is also sound market strategy to compete against your nearest competitor on the top portion of the “top ten list.”

There is much logic in making one step higher by literally making one step higher in terms of conquering different markets. The US wants to “grab” some amount of the market above them and this is UK’s. You do not want to make a step up higher by making a step down lower. The American higher education sector is in a position to make the smart move as they are in the second spot and the nearest neighbour towards north of the higher education international league table is the No. 1, Britain.

High Tuition Fees

American universities are in a good position to target British and foreign students in the UK. It can never be too overemphasised that Britain is the top destination for higher education. As such, it is, again, logical to say that they demand or simply command the highest price. The downside to this, such advantage will be used against you.

British higher education is the best in the world. And because they are so, students must pay a high price to “avail” of it. The advantage of being the world leader to be able to “name” your price and use the money to further support, sustain and advance your product can be used against you.

The American higher education sector can explore, or exploit, this advantage of the British brand and turn it into their own. And US universities have done so, unintentionally or intentionally. Many students in the UK want out because of the high tuition fees.

Popular Dream Place of Prestige

Setting aside the high tuition fees in the United Kingdom, studying in the United States has been like a life-long dream of young people around the world over. In fact, it is not only this. America is “The Dream Place” of many people around the world, not only students. It is specifically living in The States that many are dreaming of and one way to be able to do so is to study there.

The United States has marketed itself throughout the world. While it is considered as the most powerful country of the globe, it is also the most popular. With this power and popularity, life in America has been showcased to almost every nation on Earth. The rest of the world sees and knows how great the US is and that living there is great. The rest of the world is attracted to it.

But on top of the media buzz about how great it is to live and study in America, they have the wares to back it up. It will point back to the rise of American universities in the world higher education league table. One very popular and critically acclaimed example of US higher education is their liberal arts curriculum where students will be able to explore a wide range of options for studies to pursue. Moreover, aside from the overall excellence and further advancement of US higher education, there is the lure to the American life.

Round Up of the Reasons

US universities want to recruit British students because they are a big and good part of the market share of their rivals from the UK higher education sector which is the World No. 1 in their field.